


Any Decent Library Has a Pool

by TugboatG



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Pre-Relationship, Protective Doctor (Doctor Who), Swimming, Swimming Pools
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:48:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26725426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TugboatG/pseuds/TugboatG
Summary: Why, exactly, is there a pool in the Tardis library?  Nine has absolutely nothing to do with it, and neither do any feelings he definitely doesn't have for Rose.  No matter what Jack thinks.One shot, a little sweet and a little silly, in response to a challenge to write a fic based on this specific pool being in the Tardis.
Relationships: Ninth Doctor/Rose Tyler
Comments: 2
Kudos: 41





	Any Decent Library Has a Pool

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! With the encouragement of some wonderful authors on discord, this is the first writing I've shared in a very long time. There's a much longer 10/Rose in the works, but I hope you enjoy this short little prompt response. A thousand thanks to chocolatequeen for the challenge; I had a lot of fun with it.  
> Full credit to my husband for the best idea in the whole fic.

They had an understanding, as it were. He complained she slept her life away. She complained he spent his tinkering. He snarked at her for taking forever to get ready, she sassed back about his shaving. And if things escalated, well, that was entirely her fault, wasn't it? Utterly innocent of the whole thing, he was. And the TARDIS sticking her multi-dimensional nose in was just unfair. And that, he had no doubts, was how Rose found the swimming pool.

It was an enchanting room. The Tardis's attempt to provide him a bit of a zero room, now that it was lost. Dimly lit, with stars overhead, sconces on the wall between deeply recessed arches, and a deep, still pool below, reflecting the twinkling starlight, calling to mind dark nights at still lakes. Beautiful.

The moment Rose had seen it, she had positively cooed with pleasure and promptly toes off her shoes and rolled up her jeans to sit on the edge, feet dangling in, and let out a sigh of complete content.

"And just what do you think you're doing?"

"If the Tardis didn't want me here, she wouldn't have let me in. And clever girl probably knows you had me running for my life through a space station with steel floors in trainers that have been ruined since the swamps on Aruka. So I'm resting my tired feet. You and your superior biology can join me if you like." She added the smile that belonged only to her.

And, informing her that someone had to make sure she didn't drown herself falling asleep where she sat, such a silly little ape she was, he had.

But three days later, after a suspiciously brief stop at a bazaar he definitely had not been attempting to visit and long day supporting revolutionaries on Eldridge 7, Rose had decreed herself ready for a very long shower. "They were lovely, Doctor. But slug people shouldn't hug."

And so he found himself walking the corridor shortly thereafter with a wrench he was certain he had left in the console room but had found in storage 17, when a blonde blur ran past the adjoining hallway. Rose usually sought him out when she was done with her washing up, and had 27-33.5 minutes left in her usual post-messy-adventure detox routine, but apparently something had altered her routine. Curiously, he followed her. And discovered that the bazaar had been a pit stop for swimwear, as he heard Rose splash gently into the pool with a dive, surfacing some distance away to float. When he himself retreated to the pool later that night after Rose had gone to bed, the solace of the dark, peaceful stillness remained, but the air seemed permeated with Rose, making it difficult to relax his mind. 

Rose often cajoled him to join her, and on very few memorable occasions, he had. The quiet serenity and darkness of the pool, breathtaking and peaceful when alone, leant a certain sort of intimacy to sharing the space. He treasured those moments of closeness with her. After a very long day in 1987, they had met there and waded in in silence, saying nothing for a long time. They simply took peace from the stillness.

The doctor didn't always join her in the pool room, but had the Tardis connect one of the many archways to his favored reading corner in the library. He knew Rose was a big girl, that she could take care of herself, that the Tardis would let him know if she was in trouble and move doors so he could get to her more quickly. The Tardis would probably relocate all the water in the pool while he ran, as well. Still. He liked knowing he was already nearby. So he could hear her if she was in trouble. Just in case... she was so very jeopardy friendly, his precious ape. The archway remained dark, and he suspected she didn't know.

Then one day, his Rose dangled from a barrage balloon during an air raid, and he found a Captain on his ship. Rose seemed to enjoy a little human company, but still seemed very pleased to dance with him, so the doctor accepted the dynamic. A few days later, a whistle broke the silence in his refuge. 

"Wow, Doc. Quite the ambiance you've got going on in here. Must give you a delight, skinny dipping!"

The doctor made it extremely clear what apparel was required in the swimming pool, as well as what constituted acceptable recreational activities within, and Jack nodded, smirking. "Might want to try absolutely any of those things you're forbidding me to do, Doc. Sounds like you and Rosie could use the chance to... unwind."

The intimacy he had guiltily treasured when he shared it with Rose made him feel ill later, when he heard the splashing of two humans, the intrusion on their space by the not-Captain. And as he heard Rose giggling and splashing in the heretofore calming sanctuary of the pool, the light in his archway came up, bit by bit, with every squeal from her and overly sexualized chuckle from Jack. 

And the moment after he inquired if Rose had ever worn a white bikini, Jack found himself startled--and, he would never admit it, frightened--by the voice of a Time Lord, sillouhetted and leaning sardonicly in the archway, sounding deceptively casual and functionally menacing as he asked, "Oi, do you mind? Your desire to be flung out an airlock is interfering with my reading."

Jack sputtered, quite literally as he swallowed a bit of pool water. "Doc, uh... didn't see you there. Um. You been there long?"

"Pool's connected to the library, Harkness."

"...right. That seems normal."

"Mind yourself, Harkness. I've got some string theory in the comedy section I was enjoying."

He turned and walked away, smiling as he listened to Rose lose the battle to stifle her giggles, redoubling as Jack called after him that string theory was _not_ comedy. "Oh, it is, if you know how wrong it is. Ta-ta!"

Oh, Rose was perfectly capable of shutting him down. And, though he had strong hopes he knew what they would be, she had a right to her own choices. But if she was going to fall for someone, that someone would treat her with nothing but the absolute, unquestioning respect she deserved. He would accept nothing less. He would much prefer everyone else treat her that way, too, especially if they were sticking around.

He noticed Jack walked through the library on the way to the pool more than once, now. He seemed to be trying to determine if they really were connected, or perhaps he was waiting for an evening he would be unobserved. Likely both, the Doctor decided. That in mind, he made a stop late at night, when his companions were very deeply asleep.  
It was a fairly domestic visit--to one of the species of Rose's home planet.  
It had produced Humans, Silurians, Trees, and, among many others, the Atlans. A brief and pleasant visit took care of his purpose nicely. He heard the Tardis's chuckles upon his return, and she happily made the needed change to accommodate.

A few days later, Rose had opted for the pool again, Jack had come through the library to see if he was free from supervision again, and eventually Rose said goodnight and padded out through the library, her new routine, so she could spend a moment with the doctor before turning in. Jack followed shortly after, dropping heavily into an armchair and placing his feet on the coffee table.

"So. Question for you, Doc"

The Doctor marked his page and looked up. "What do you need, Jack?"

"Just how long has the pool been connected to the library? Since Rose started swimming?"

 _Yes, almost to the day,_ the Doctor thought. "It's part of the library, Harkness. Obvious you haven't spent much time in a pan-cultural library before, but a pool is key." All true, really. Misleading, yeah, but true.

"Pull the other one, Doc. If you're gonna lie, be more convincing. But I doubt Rosie would mind if she knew the truth. Do you need some pointers, get back in the game? Cus she deserves for _someone_ on this ship to make a move, you know."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Rose is perfectly capable of deciding what she wants herself. And 'making a move' is the bulk of your conversation, unfortunately."

Jack stood, clearly heading to bed himself. "Just say the word, Doc, and I'm yours. Could even be the three of us, if you like. No one needs to be jealous! I'm headed for bed. Join me if you like."

"Good night, Jack."

He was harmless, really. The Doctor was aware he had no real right to be territorial nor cause for concern. Jack meant all his propositions, but he also wasn't going to push people in their own home. No need to stop having a bit of fun with him, though. He had a cover to establish and a lovely plan to execute.

A few days later, after they finished running for their lives, Rose said she was going to have a quiet swim to try and settle the adrenaline. The Doctor refilled his respiratory bypass, settled his heart rate after the run, and carefully got himself settled with a new book.

Jack was walking through the library, looking for the Doctor. He detoured a bit, searching for him but not finding him. Perfect. Finally, the opportunity he'd been hoping for. He entered the pool room and debated advertising his plan, but decided in fairness to Rose she should know what she might be getting into. He slipped off his trunks and left them courteously in plain view on the edge of the pool, where should walk right past them. If she liked, she could lob them over and he'd put them on, but the ambiance in here really did demand he try, at least once. Pleased, he dove into the pool fully nude, surfaced, and did a lazy backstroke. Flipping over, he dipped under the water to swim, opened his eyes, and choked--he surfaced quickly, coughing out water.

Sitting at the bottom of the pool, next to shelf built into the wall and revealed by an open panel, comfortably cross-legged with a sardonically raised eyebrow, sat the Doctor, reading the latest novel from Atlantis. He lazily put it back on the shelf and surfaced.

"Told you, Harkness," he said as he threw the man his trunks, "any decent library has a pool."


End file.
